Almost Alive
by illumipel
Summary: He was almost a voice of reason. She was almost content. Who knew what was barely a conversation could change so much. ShadMina
1. Haunted

_**Author's Note:** Okay, this is my first time posting a story here so be gentle on the reviews. Before you even say it - I KNOW there must be typos, I'm only human after all and I have issues with grammer so if there's anything big that stands out tell me and I'll fix it. I'm personaly rather fond of the pairing so please don't give me a hissy fit over "no she should be with him and blah blah blah!" you'll get a nice rant from me in responce so don't even try. _

_I'd also like to thank the writer of "Simplicity", Lady Nxy as her story inspired this one. That said enjoy!_

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_**Shadows** do not belong in the world of the living._

Again those words ran through her head leaving her feeling cold and empty. They had been said so simply, so calmly, so… easily that day it had almost scared her. Sighing she shook her head and ran her gloved fingers through the long lavender hair she had received through her mother as she continued walking down the hallway. It was no good to linger on such thoughts, it was all in the past, and there was nothing she could do about it now. She sighed again.

"Hey Songbird, you ok?" The words brought her back to reality as her eyes snapped open locking with the deep cerulean colored eyes of her boyfriend and manager, Ash. "You're minds been wandering a lot recently Mina. Why don't you skip this meeting and get so rest, if you ask me you need a vacation."

Mina wasn't sure why, but it seemed strange hearing that from him. "Ash, I just got back from my sabbatical barely three weeks ago, I'm fine. Just… distracted." He frowned slightly and folded his arms, turning slightly to the side so she couldn't see his expression. Recognizing where his thoughts were going with that stance, she slid in a little white lie. "I've… had an idea for a song I could use for the next concert stuck in my head for a while, but I can't seem to get it right. It's been driving me crazy,"

She added a small smile to apologize, to herself it was for lying to him but Ash saw it in a different light and his stance relaxed. "Ah, I'm guessing your writers block is getting to you?" Nervously, Mina nodded. "Don't worry, go home and work on the song I'll deal with these corporate bozos."

He placed a hand on her shoulder in comfort, and she felt herself go stiff for a split second. Ash, not noticing her discomfort, smiled and turned around walking down the hallway off to the boardroom, where they were originally going to so they could discuss where the next concert would be. She walked off to the elevator frowning; Mr. Teikyou was a very well known and respected artic fox in the music industry, having set concerts for many famous bands and singers, he was **no** 'corporate bozo.'

Pushing the button for the ground floor, Mina leaned against the left wall and gently touched where Ash had placed his hand. He was still touchy on the whole "Sonic" issue; it was obvious after he had reacted to her statement of being distracted. That was probably why she was surprised about him acting so concerned, even with their tearful reunion after Heavy and Bomb's attack, she still saw him a little edgy whenever Sonic was involved in, well, anything. Mina shook her head as she walked out of the building.

She followed and old dirt path she discovered during one of her training sessions with Sonic before the incident in Fang's rundown mansion of a base. Mina shivered, now THERE was a memory she'd prefer to forget. The Ask Aly advice column had helped her deal with the emotional scars she had received that day, though she couldn't help but still be fond of Sonic to a point, as it was hard not to like him at all. 'Some other scars though,' Mina thought as she rounded one of the last corners, her home now in view, 'won't heal so easily.'

She could still remember running in front of Sally to protect her from the danger of Fang's sniper gun. The pain in her body had felt wasn't was bad as the pain she felt over losing Sonic at the time, but another pain buried itself in her heart as the bullet imbedded itself into her back, blood slowly seeping into her customary black tank top. In that moment she felt something she had only felt once before, when her parents had been so violently stolen from her.

Hate. Pure hate.

It disgusted her. He had no right to ruin their happiness. No one did. No one….

The scar from the bullet wouldn't go away, even with the special work Dr. Quack had done so she wouldn't be immobilized from the waist down. The bullet had hit dangerously close to her spinal cord, after all. For a while, she was mortified of the scar, as it would always remind her of the dark hatred she had felt that day.

Mina had reached the front door and fiddled with her keys as the next thought passed through her mind.

Though she'd never admit it openly, she was slightly ashamed of how the wound had marred her figure. This had caused her to stop low back outfits these days.

_Stop being such a superficial little child. You honestly believe that people will care in thirty years about something so frivolous?_

She stumbled in the doorway as the memory hit her head on. Why was this bothering her so much? All of this was a part of the past, even if it had only just happened not even a month ago; it shouldn't make a difference now. All of it was a moment in time during her sabbatical, no more no less.

"I'm home, Mama!"

When there was no 'welcome home' answering her, Mina walked into the kitchen searching for a note. Sure enough there was one situated right on the refrigerator door. Reading it over quickly Mina smiled and opened the refrigerator and grabbed a drink.

After her singing career had really taken off, her mother had started going out more often with the other mothers so she wouldn't feel lonely when Mina was busy. Apparently today she was off with Sonic's mother Bernie for a book club of some sort.

Finishing her drink, Mina threw out the empty soda can and proceeded to her room. She sighed, something that she had been doing a lot since her sabbatical to the small town just south of the outskirts of Knothole.

As Mina sat down in the mauve chair in front of her light oak desk and picked up a pen, her thoughts drifted away from a possible song to write. Once again she found herself musing over what had happened in the agency with Ash.

As much as she tried to ignore the nagging feeling inside, her reasoning from before didn't explain why she had reacted to badly to Ash patting her shoulder earlier. Mina's shoulders slumped as she sat at her desk looking at the blank page, musing over what she could write and these ludicrous thoughts.

He was her boyfriend for goodness sake, he had held her in his arms for hours stroking her hair and kissing. Why did something as simple as a pat on her shoulder have her so shaken?

_**DON'T!**_

She felt her body jolt in the seat, and sat straight up as though she had been shocked.

A dark figure wrenching itself away, herself standing there startled, her hand outstretched, and two oval rubies shining with a lonely, angry gaze that pierced her very soul.

Mina slumped back into her seat and put down the pen she had nearly crushed onto her light oak wood desk. She began rubbing her temples dispelling the images from her mind.

"Gah, why is this bothering me so much?" As much as it irked her she realized that it was because of that she reacted so badly to Ash touching her. It was because she had become used to a lack of contact from being with **him**.

The dark Mobian that now seemed to haunt her mind. Save for himself, one who held no loyalties or trust to anyone. The being whose color was so morbid; mirroring the haunted life he seemed to live.

The enigma who resembled the being who once broke her heart.

Shadow The Hedgehog.


	2. Avoidance

**Author's Note: **_Took long enough, huh? Before we begin, many many MANY thanks to Iced-Out-Snowman whose review inspired me to pick up my pen again and try to continue this, much love to GuidingChaos for hooking me on the pairing in the first place - not to mention giving me the encouragement to not give up, and finally, a million hugs for Shadow-Luna who was able to help me with the writers block that kept this chapter from being posted months ago. I owe you guys._

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"The secret of a good memory is attention, and attention to a subject depends upon our interest in it. We rarely forget that which has made a deep impression on our minds."

**Tryon Edwards (1809 - 1894)**

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Banging her head on the desk suddenly seemed like the optimal option. Everything Shadow had said was ringing louder than church bells through her head, and she wished it would all just stop. It was understandable that the memories wouldn't go away for a long time, but they needn't haunt her like this! '_But then again_' She laughed dryly as a light blush painted itself across her face, '_How often does one meet a Mobian who can't seem to choose whether he wants to kill our famous blue blur, or help him fight for Mobius?_'

"And he said Sonic had the 'erratic personality,'" Mina mused, "Heh, look who's calling the kettle black."

Giggling softly she stood up and stretched, there was no way she'd get a song written now. Slowly, she walked over to her bed and flopped down on it. She rolled over to lie on her back, noting tiredly how her lavender locks almost faded into the deep waves of her violet sheets. It was the same way he had seemingly melted into the darkness.

Annoyed by the unbidden comparison, Mina pulled her blanket closer, "Stupid, conceited little hedgehog… Why's he got to be so… fascinating…?" She grumbled, burying herself deeper into the sheets, the waking world fading quietly around her.

A soft voice.

"Mina…?"

'_Mur…?_'

"Mina, sweetie?"

'_Go away…_'

"Mina?"

She felt herself snuggle deeper into the pillow. A dreamless sleep was far too comfortable to give up in exchange for a hectic reality.

"Mina?" This time a soft hand gently shaking her shoulder accompanied the tender call.

'No fair…'

_Like you have any right to talk about that._

"Meep!"

With a jerk of speed that would have made Sonic glow with pride, Mina shot out bed. Unfortunately she realized half a second too late that doing so sent her over the side of the bed, and straight onto the floor, which she hit with a resounding thud.

"Owwww…." Groaning softly, Mina pushed herself up and glared half-heartedly at the hardwood floor beneath her. "Why hello Mr. Floor, fancy meeting you here."

"And fancy finding you sleeping this late."

Looking up, Mina found her mother sitting on the edge of her now empty bed an amused smile on her face. Grinning sheepishly back, Mina propped herself back up onto the bed to sit beside her. "What do you mean late, mom? I just took a short nap!"

Isabella simply cocked an eyebrow at her pop star daughter, "Really? I'm clearly out of the loop then. I never knew 'short nap' was slang for sleeping past eleven."

Blood drained from her face at the words. "What?"

"Uh-huh, when I came home you were fast asleep on your bed so I just let you be, especially seeing how everything's been getting to you recently." Mina nodded vaguely in response. While comforting to know her mother sympathized with her, that didn't exactly answer why she bothered to wake her then. She couldn't blame her mother but she didn't need more reminders of that blasted 'Ultimate Life Form' than what she already had.

"I would have let you sleep later," Isabella amended, "But Ash just called. He said he'd be over soon to see how you're doing." That was not just the feeling of everything going numb. "Now why don't a draw up a nice warm bath for you before he gets here, hmmm?"

The concept of a long hot bath was a rather tempting one. While a bath was her favorite form of relaxing, it also left her very open to straying thoughts about an ebony hedgehog and simply made the time between the now and the inevitable confrontation with her manager – **boyfriend** – move faster. What she needed was to get out of the house, the sooner the better.

Plopping herself into her chair she calmly declined, "It sounds nice but I think I'd rather go for a walk to help clear my head. Mind helping me fix my hair?"

"Of course not," Isabella replied happily as she moved herself behind her daughter, "Mind telling me why you've been so upset recently?"

"Oh I don't know Mama, I just can't seem to concentrate on anything anymore." Liar, she most certainly could concentrate. The problem was the subject matter.

"I don't think that's quite it," Her mother giggled out as she began to part her hair, swiftly tying up one side to attack the other half with a comb. Or attempt to as it were, in defiance of Isabella's efforts Mina's hair proved it had successfully become one giant knot during the night "From the way you've been acting it sounds more like you've found a not-so-little distraction, sweetie. For Ash's sake, I hope it's not another boy."

"Mamaaaa!" Mina wined, pulling against the combs lock on her hair, "Seriously! It's not like that!" The accuracy of her mother's playful tease was more than unnerving. So the ebony hedgehog had been on her mind more often than not for the past week or so. That was clearly his fault and not her own. Especially after what he did.

She suppressed a shudder at the thought.

'_Besides_,' She reasoned with herself, '_Even if I am thinking of him a lot, I'm not thinking about him like _**that**.' There was absolutely no was she would associate a hedgehog's sharp gaze or smooth voice with anything fond. Once was enough. Once was enough for the rest of her life.

Her back started to ache.

"There. Done."

Bringing her attention back up to the mirror in front of her, Mina took a second to observe her mother's handiwork. A sleepy looking mongoose with its purple hair wound up in double buns gazed back, "Thanks Mama, it looks perfect."

Quickly jumping to her feet, Mina gave her mother a peck on the cheek, tossed on the first outfit she could find, and dashed out the door. She made sure there was a good distance between her and her house before she finally stopped and, not bothering to move, plopped down onto the gravel path.

Mina was disgusted with herself. It was ludicrous to literally run from her issues with Ash – they weren't even real issues! There was only an uneasy notion of something horribly wrong and the unsettling emotions that accompanied his gaze in the recent weeks.

'_Ugh…. I'm only making things worse!_' She sighed, gazing up at the treetops, '_Me sitting here won't fix anything, but I can't even bring myself to head home._'

She buried her head in her knees, "I'm so useless…"

"Well if a superstar like you is 'useless,' I'd hate to think what that'd make the average Mobian."

Huh?

She looked up.

"Sonic?!"

He grinned, "The one and only! What's up?"

Her neck was starting to hurt from looking at him. "Um, you apparently."

"Heh, I guess that's true." He laughed

"Come on," Sonic said, offering her a hand, "Someone will run you over soon if you just keep sitting there."

She giggled and took his hand. If there was at least one thing she could count on, it was that Sonic would find a way to cheer her up, intentionally or not. His smile was just contagious.

"Right, so what are you doing here?" She asked, brushing dirt off her pants. It had been ages since she'd seen him head down this path.

"Well…" He scratched the back of his head, looking off to the side, "Since Fi took off I've been out running and then I saw you." He turned to look back to her as he said this, still grinning, "Considering we haven't talked in a while I figured I'd come over and say 'hi' and-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Franticly waving her hands, Mina swiftly cut him off as she tried to process what he had just said, "What exactly do you mean by 'took off'!?" While she couldn't easily recall the orange fox's personality from their scattered – and rather short – encounters, Mina wouldn't have pegged her as the kind of person to bail on anything. At most she would have assumed that Fiona would simply have issues with some of the Freedom Fighters, like she had.

Apparently she was wrong.

Sonic sighed at the words, his figure darkening as he looked down. Shoulders drooping slightly, he sparred her a quick glance before: "It's… complicated."

"And…?"

He made a small, indistinguishable, disgruntled grumble of protest. And then… it was gone. His slouch, the dark mood, all of it melted away as Sonic stood straight, hand resting against his hip with his trademark cocky grin back in place. "And I wanted to clear my head, so I went for a jog."

'_He's avoiding the subject_,' Mina thought irritably, a pout forming on her lips. That smirking poker face of his grated her nerves. Somewhere, buried deep inside her conscious, a part of her chastised herself for the reaction to his blatant evasion of the subject. Hadn't she taken her walk to dodge Ash's ever vigilant – not to mention jealous – stare? Squashing the tick in the back of her mind, she settled on crossing her arms and raising a skeptical eyebrow at her old flame.

_Glare all you want. It won't change anything._

Mina could feel herself twitch as the words filtered smoothly – mockingly – through her, half-heartedly realizing what the action looked like to Sonic. Stubbornly ignoring what was most likely guilt, she firmly held her stance.

Sure enough though, he took her sharp jerk as a cue to either fess up or suffer horribly. "To put it simply: Fiona and Amy had a fight, it got outta hand, some stuff happened and she left." While she nodded at his explanation, she was determined to get more information than that out of him. 'Stuff' was far too vague for her. Swiftly realizing this factor himself, Sonic continued, "The long version will take a while. Why don't we go grab a seat and some chilidogs at Uncle Chuck's? We'll talk there."

She hummed softly. It sounded tempting but… "Why not Freedom HQ? Isn't it a lot closer?"

"Yeah, but Amy has taken it upon herself to replace everything 'Fiona-ish' and I'd rather not talk about what happened while she's trying to make the room look like a rainbow puked on it." He paused as she giggled at his rather unique description of Amy's tastes, "Besides, you made me hungry."

"I made you hungry?" Carefully inspecting her outfit, Mina found herself wondering if Sonic had hit his head harder than she thought earlier. Nothing about her loose black pants or red Chinese top reminded her even faintly of food. "And how, exactly, have I done this?"

"Well, A. You promised to go out for chilidogs with me after your last concert. Remember?" Eyes widening at the statement, she felt ashamed to grasp the fact that she had completely forgotten. "And B…" A hand went up and tugged at one of her hair ribbons, "You look like you're wearing purple donuts on you head!"

Old memories of their training – and his black hole of a stomach – flooded her mind as Sonic beamed down at her, playfully pulling the ribbon. She shook her head.

"You never change."

He just laughed.

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"Nobody, as long as he moves about among the chaotic currents of life, is without trouble."

**Carl Jung (1875 - 1961)**


	3. Reconciliation

I think this is a bit better update speed don't you think? Many thanks one again to Shadow-Luna, who once again helped beat off writers block that would have undoubtedly stalled this for another month or so. And one obligatory aside: Please review!

"Don't walk behind me, I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend."  
**Unknown,** _(often attributed to Albert Camus)_

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"Alright. So what the heck happened?"

Sonic froze. The two of them were sitting in one of the more secluded booths in Uncle Chuck's Diner, their lunches spread our across the table. When they reached the diner, Chuck had taken one look at the pair, smiled, and proceeded to go and clear off a spot for them. Mina had given the hedgehog enough time to down one of his chili dogs before her patience ran out.

And now he wasn't answering her.

"Soooonic! You **promised**."

An exaggerated, if not comical, pout, "I was hoping you'd forget."

"_**Sonic!**_"

Several heads turned at her exasperated shriek, and Mina ducked her head in embarrassment as Sonic chuckled at her crouched form.

"Okay, okay. You win. Take it easy." He mockingly chided her, "I doubt your fans will be very happy with me if you strain your voice over this." She glared at him, but with one last smirk, he proceeded to tell her everything.

It took Mina a minute to snap out of her shock when he had finished.

"Okay…" She started lamely, "So Anti-Sonic-"

"-Scourge-"

"-And Fiona?" He nodded. Pausing to try and draw up the right words, she took a sip of her chocolate milkshake and tried to start again, "Why the heck…" but she trailed off, her mind failing to conjure the anything appropriate.

_Why is it that people cannot focus on things of true value?_

And _**he**_ wasn't helping the situation either.

A looked flickered across Sonic's face as she trailed off, speaking volumes of what the blue blur thought about "Why." If her gaze hadn't been so fixated on him, Mina was positive she would have missed it. She almost wished that she had, it hurt to see her friend, her hero, make that kind of face.

That expression reminded her of when Sally had broken up with him.

Regardless, Sonic quite calmly replied, "Because she only asked me out thinking I'd act the same way he did back when he was impersonating he." Clearly remembering the incident, he gave a dry laugh, "After all, I obviously look like a devil may care playboy." He shot her a cheesy smirk and waved his arms around for emphasis.

Wisely choosing to ignore the latter remark, as Mina could recollect far too many instances of him seemingly flirting to honestly agree on the matter, she found the question she had been searching for, "I get that, what I don't get is why she dragged out your relationship for so long!"

At that, he gave her a humorless smirk. "She dragged it out because I always go for the girls who love leaving issues to build up like a volcano before letting them blow up in my face. Literally." It didn't take much to guess who he meant by that 'literally.' Leaning back in his seat, Sonic paused and studied her carefully before stating, "Ya know, I think you're the only one of my girl friends-" An eyebrow went up as she flushed, "-You know what I mean – who hasn't held anything in till you went nuclear."

Mina couldn't help but roll her eyes at him, "I'm flattered, but I think Amy and Bunnie apply to your "openness" title too, blue boy." She shrugged, "Besides, writing songs kind of relieves any need of brooding."

Unless it involves a certain black hedgehog.

A laugh. "Nope! Ames tried to town down her crush on me for so long, she's permanently stuck on nuclear now, and I'm positive Bunnie must have blown up at 'Twan at one point or another." The eyebrow went back up, "Oh come on Mina, don't tell me his accent hasn't gotten on your nerves at least once."

There was a slight pause between the two, apparently the deadpan stare she provided as a response wasn't enough, "That's beside the point, Sonic." No point in denying that his speech pattern was a little irritating, "Small quirks like that won't cause real riffs in a relationship. Take me and Ash for example: we have polar opposite tastes in music, but that doesn't mean we'll breakup over it."

Sirens went off in her head like a bomb. Ash. Coming over. Go home now.

She never did listen to the reasonable side of herself.

Across the table, oblivious to her inner turmoil, Sonic gazed at her for a minute before sighing loudly. "Seesh, couldn't you have just taken it as a compliment?" He pouted again and played with the curly fry. Stopping to stare, Mina tried to wrap her mind around what he said before hearing him mutter, "So not cute."

She could feel her face turn red. "Um… well… I'm flattered to hear you say that Sonic, but its kind of," sweet, "Embarrassing. Especially given the fact that I have a boyfriend." Who she was currently avoiding.

Mina wondered vaguely to herself if it was possible to lock one's conscious in a closet.

The blue hero was silent, seemingly surprised by her response before giving her a soft smile and nodding, "Yeah, sorry. I guess I still think things are the same as they were before the Xorda blew me halfway across the universe sometimes."

Back before the Xorda…

Back when she was still in love with him.

Somewhere, in the back of her heart, Mina wanted to know if he remembered what she had said to him back at Fang's mansion. She wanted to know if he'd even heard.

"Sonic…"

"But let's be real, there's no point in dwelling on the past." He scoffed down another chili dog, "Am I right?"

The singer couldn't help but agree, "Yes. You are." But something was still off, "Is there something else that's bothering you Sonic?"

"Nope!"

He was wearing his poker face again.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong."

"**Liar**. Tell me."

"There's nothing wrong Mina. Zip, Nada." He was laughing now, waving his hand back and forth, as if to ward off the topic.

She put her hand on his and he stopped laughing.

"Sonic," she started carefully, "You've always been there to lend me your shoulder when I've been upset. At least let me lend you my ear."

Hand limp in hers, Sonic turned away from Mina's gaze looking ashamed, embarrassed, resigned, and most surprisingly, to the point the idol was convinced she was seeing things, just a little relieved.

"… 'I don't love him, I love you.' Or something to that effect, right?"

Ice. She felt as if all of her blood had been replaced with ice. Hand pulled back to her body with a violent jerk, Mina found her voice again in a mortified "You heard that?"

Obviously wishing to end the subject quickly, Sonic swiftly explained how he had followed her at the hospital. "You had been so badly shaken up from Ash's injuries after Bomb's attack, I was worried. I guess you didn't realize that I went with you to his room…" a deep breath, "… And that I was in the doorway when the two of you reconciled."

So he had heard every word… "Oh Son-"

"-Let me finish" He seemed a lot more composed, a lot more like his usual self. "You know I hate admitting I was wrong."

Unable to help herself, Mina giggled softly. That was so true! Even Sonic himself probably didn't know how many fights he had started due to his stubbornness.

"I wasn't fair to you Mina. I never gave you a clear view on what I… felt for you." Odd, his reaction to her thank you kiss and Sally's confession seemed clear enough to her. "And you've been hurt, a lot, because of it." Here he stopped and turned to lock eyes with her.

"I'm sorry."

Without a word, Mina kicked him under the table.

"_**Wah?!**_"

"Silly." The mongoose chided him as he stared incredulously at her. She couldn't deny his apology was comforting, but she knew that after chasing him for so long, she was even more responsible for her troubles than he was. "You… we might have missed our targets back then, but we're still friends. Thank you for telling me this Sonic, but there's no point in getting depressed about it now. What happened happened. Besides, with everything that been going on, we don't exactly have the time to be miserable either. Right?"

_'I won't let what ifs ruin what we have now.'_

_'I can't.'_

A bright grin. "Right!" Now there was the Sonic she knew, "Heh, that's my girl!" The blunt declaration sent her blushing again as the blue hedgehog laughed with something resembling relief. Why did he always have to say things in such suggestive ways? Things like that were the reasons Ash was so uptight when it came to the azure hero. Surely he knew how his words affected people?

"Now, since we've filled our drama quota for the month, how about another round of curly fries?"

Mina took that as a no.

Shaking her head as laughter began to bubble up inside of her, the singer tried to blurt out, "I swear Sonic you're just too-" But she couldn't finish, she was laughing too hard.

"Oh come on! I have a fast metabolism! You of all people should realize how-"

She just kept giggling while her friend continued to protest. 'Really now…'

"…Shadow doesn't know how right he was about you."

Sonic paused mid word at her statement.

"You know Shadow?"

Aurora, she had said that aloud? Realizing that the conversation could go very bad, very fast, Mina took up a sudden interest in the painting on the wall. "Not exactly 'know' so much as… bumped into and had a small conversation with? It's nothing."

"Mina…" She was going to hear it now, wasn't she? "What'd that black ball of angst do now?"

"Nothing Sonic, really." It was true, technically. Shadow hadn't actually done anything, to her anyway, beyond unnerving her with simple truths she so deeply wanted to ignore. Well, that and haunting her mind with them since she came home. Stupid, aggravating, know-it-all… What **was** it with her and hedgehogs? "I wound up meeting him when I went on vacation after the assassination attempt and he said some things to me. One of them happened to involve calling you erratic, and I can't say I disagree."

Annoyance flashed in Sonic's green eyes before he pulled a face. "Ugh, hearing you agree with that Faker seems wrong somehow. And he didn't do anything to you?"

It was her turn to pull a face, "**No** Sonic, he didn't do anything to me. Like I said…" She froze for a second, but that was enough for the hedgehog across from her to become concerned, "Like I said, we just talked. That was it."

"Uh-huh."

"Really." Sonic didn't say anything, instead letting the following silence take over while he munched on some of the remaining curly fries. Mina quickly found herself amending her previous statement, "Though he was a bit… intimidating, with the way he put things…"

"I find anyone who calls himself 'the ultimate' anything to be more irritating than intimidating. Idiot couldn't even remember who he was half the time before we helped. He probably just wanted an ego boost."

"… But it didn't seem like he was criticizing me." He raised an eyebrow at this, "Well, not in the way you're implying." With that Mina pushed her thoughts of the ebony hedgehog to the back of her mind.

Her companion, wasn't so inclined. '_If he wasn't looking to insult her, why would Mr. Anti-social make a comment at all? He doesn't seem like the type to stand around and chat with a random girl, especially one like Mina._' Sonic watched as Mina fiddled with some of her loose locks of hair before folding her hands in her lap, and suddenly found himself wondering why the pose looked familiar. He had seen someone stand like that recently, but who?

Then it hit him.

'_Oh ho __**ho!**_' Sonic couldn't stop the grin from spreading across his face as he observed the mongoose a little closer, '_She probably had the whole "sweet girl" image going for her too. Heh, who knew Faker was such a sap!_'

"Soooo…" A light bulb seemed to go off over the hedgehog's head, "Like Ash then?"

That got her attention. "What?"

"The way Faker acted." Sonic had suffered cranial damage as a child; she was convinced, "Seriously, since Ash is your manager and all he must say stuff that just sounds really mean…" There was a pause, "…most of the time."

"Yes, it's part of how he helps me push the band to do better." Mina did not want to dwell on the topics of her boyfriend or the dark doppelganger, and sighed loudly, "This relates to my talk with Shadow how?"

"Maybe he was just trying to help and simply coming off as a jerk. Aurora knows he needs a lesson in social interaction."

The thought of Ash and Shadow having similarities of any kind was disturbing on multiple levels. Especially the way her dear friend implied it.

"Well? Wouldn't you say so?"

But truly, the worst part was that the more she thought about it…

"Aww, come on! It's a yes or no Min."

…The more it felt right.

"Check please!"

It was his turn to shout in exasperation. "_**Mina!**_"

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"I love my past. I love my present. I'm not ashamed of what I've had, and I'm not sad because I have it no longer."  
**Colette (1873 - 1954)**, _The Last of Cheri, 1926_


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